http://hdl.handle.net/11089/28385 2026-04-08T04:40:24Z 2026-04-08T04:40:24Z Foster, Victoria http://hdl.handle.net/11089/28861 2019-06-19T01:21:32Z 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Return of the Surreal: Towards a Poetic and Playful Sociology Foster, Victoria This article argues that the time is ripe to reacquaint sociology and surrealism. Taking inspiration from surrealism’s emphasis on making the ordinary strange through bizarre, lively and sometimes haunting methods might result in a more poetic and playful sociology. The article looks at how this might be applied in practice through drawing on a variety of examples of social research that share some of the tenets of surrealism, not least the latter’s focus on social justice. This enables discussion of a number of methodological concerns stemming from feminist and post-structuralist thought, including the troubling of narrative coherency and the notion of “voice.” Infusing sociology with “a surrealist spirit” requires opening up and moving away from rationality in ways that allow for the exploration of contradictions, irreverence, humor, and paradox.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z Thurairajah, Kalyani http://hdl.handle.net/11089/28860 2019-06-19T01:21:33Z 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

Uncloaking the Researcher: Boundaries in Qualitative Research Thurairajah, Kalyani Qualitative researchers are expected to engage in reflexivity, whereby they consider the impact of their own social locations and biases on the research process. Part of this practice involves the consideration of boundaries between the researcher and the participant, including the extent to which the researcher may be considered an insider or an outsider with respect to the area of study. This article explores the three different processes by which boundaries are made and deconstructed, and the ethical complexities of this boundary making/(un)making process. This paper examines the strengths and limitations of three specific scenarios: 1) when the researcher is fully cloaked and hiding their positionalities; 2) when there is strategic undressing to reveal some positionalities; 3) when there is no cloak, and all positionalities are shared or revealed. This paper argues that it is insufficient to be reflexive about boundaries through acknowledgement, and instead advocates reflexivity that directly examines the processes by which social locations are shared and hidden during the research process.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z Shigihara, Amanda Michiko http://hdl.handle.net/11089/28859 2019-06-19T01:21:38Z 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

“I Mean, Define Meaningful!”: Accounts of Meaningfulness among Restaurant Employees Shigihara, Amanda Michiko Drawing on ethnographic data collected over a five-year period, this study addresses the complex topic of what constitutes meaningful lives. This research examines restaurant employees’ accounts of meaningfulness in and outside their workplaces. The meaning they ascribe to their jobs and activities external to work reveals five categories of meaningfulness: Helping, Mentoring, Expanding, Belonging, and Supplementation. Regardless of popular opinion, which marks restaurant work as meaningless, the data show how and why restaurant employees construct meaningfulness from the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of their jobs. Additionally, this investigation sheds light on how social constructions of meaning have the potential to contribute to and diminish one’s sense of meaningfulness. This study provides a more comprehensive and inclusionary perspective of the related concepts of meaning, meaningfulness, and meaningful work. Specifically, meaningfulness exists in quotidian and extraordinary experiences, and the workers engage in, understand, and appreciate both.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z Hlatshwayo, Mondli http://hdl.handle.net/11089/28857 2019-06-19T01:21:34Z 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Trials and Tribulations of Zimbabwean Precarious Women Workers in Johannesburg: A Cry for Help? Hlatshwayo, Mondli There is a growing literature on the conditions of Zimbabwean women working as migrant workers in South Africa, specifically in cities like Johannesburg. Based on in-depth interviews and documentary analysis, this empirical research paper contributes to scholarship examining the conditions of migrant women workers from Zimbabwe employed as precarious workers in Johannesburg by zooming in on specific causes of migration to Johannesburg, the journey undertaken by the migrant women to Johannesburg, challenges of documentation, use of networks to survive in Johannesburg, employment of the women in precarious work, and challenges in the workplace. Rape and sexual violence are threats that face the women interviewed during migration to Johannesburg and even when in Johannesburg. The police who are supposed to uphold and protect the law are often found to be perpetrators involved in various forms of violence against women. In the workplace, the women earn starvation wages and work under poor working conditions. Human rights organizations and trade unions are unable to reach the many migrant women because of the sheer volume of violations against workers’ rights and human rights.

2019-01-01T00:00:00Z